


Sing Goodbye / There’s a Rumor Going Round

by marcicat



Category: Glee
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-08-31
Updated: 2010-08-31
Packaged: 2017-12-07 00:20:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/741906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marcicat/pseuds/marcicat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Noah goes to see Beth (post season 1 finale).</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sing Goodbye / There’s a Rumor Going Round

**Author's Note:**

> In the grand tradition of me naming things, this fic has two titles. Yeah, I couldn’t decide between them, so I just mushed them together with a stylish slash mark.

DAY 1

"Ow!  Fuck!"  

His hand slipped as he levered himself over the fence and he shook off the sting.  Puck was pretty sure this was the craziest thing he'd ever done.  Wait -- his brain helpfully supplied a list of crazier things and began scrolling through them.  Okay, not even in the top ten, he was still good.

He'd had to drive three towns over to get to the Corcoran house, and then -- of course --  it just had to be a neighborhood with street lights, cameras, and a freaking night watchman at the gate.  Sure, there was a part of him that could be glad his baby girl was going to grow up somewhere safe, but the rest of him was seriously pissed at the amount of DNA evidence he was leaving behind.  

So far the only thing that had gone right was that Shelby Corcoran wasn't a dog person.  Fending off an attack dog while trying to break into Berry's birth mother's house to see a baby...  Well, it reached a point where it staggered even his imagination.

The nursery was on the ground floor, a room thankfully free of anything related to singing, dancing, or show choir.  He crept in and went straight for the baby monitor, tucking it under a stack of towels.  He looked around warily, not completely convinced that there wouldn't be a laser grid lurking somewhere in the room.  Shelby Corcoran was one scary lady.  Finally -- finally -- he went to the crib.  It was the closest he'd  been to his daughter since her birth.

"Hey, baby girl."

And yeah, he'd thought about it.  He wasn't good with words, but it didn't mean he didn't think about things.  Music was better, but it wasn't like he could pull a B&E and carry a guitar at the same time.  On the other hand, sitting in the dark and staring at a baby was just really creepy.  And boring.

He wanted to sing her something, but most of the songs he knew weren't exactly child-friendly.  Luckily, no kid (Jewish or not) escaped public school in middle America without singing Christmas carols.  He started with 'Silent Night' and worked his way through what he remembered.  Beth stayed asleep the whole time.  He wasn't sure whether he was disappointed or relieved.

It wasn't until he was sneaking out again that he ran into trouble.

"Puckerman."

He froze.  One hand was still reaching for the door, and he considered making a break for it.  The arguments against it stacked up in his brain.  

(One) She knew who he was.  (Two) She probably knew where he lived.  (Three) There was a small possibility she would run him to ground like a cheetah on the savannah, and that would just be embarrassing.  (Four) If the door slammed, it might wake the baby.

Puck dropped his hand and turned around.  Shelby Corcoran was standing by the stairs.  He stuck his hands in his pockets and waited for her to say something.  She stared at him.  He stared back.  

"There's a second baby monitor," she said finally.  Well, fuck.  He was screwed.

She made coffee and poured him a cup without asking.  He took it warily, sitting on the edge of a kitchen chair.  Never invite trouble; that was the first rule.  So far she hadn't accused him of anything, and unless she had a phone stashed in her bathrobe, she also hadn't called the police.

"You could have just come by during the day," Shelby said.

Puck scoffed.  "Yeah right.  Like you would have even opened the door to me.  Besides, I have work."

"Where are you working?  Still at Sheets 'N Things?"

He shifted on the chair.  "Yeah."  That and a few other things, but hey, it brought the money in.  That was what made the world go round.

She looked at him sharply.  "What is it that you want, Noah?" she asked, and he rolled his eyes at being called Noah.

Resolutely keeping his gaze from straying towards the nursery, he said, "Graduate.  Then get the hell out of Ohio."

Shelby laughed.  "You have no idea how many times I've heard that.  That's what you all say, like you really think things are any different anywhere else.  There's bigger towns and smaller towns, but they're all just full of people.  People are the same everywhere -- some you like, some you don't."

She leaned in closer.  "I guarantee you, you could go a million miles away and you'd still see all your teammates in the people around you.  It's only you that you can change.  You, and how you relate to them."

It sounded like classic adult speak, so he tuned most of it out.  "Sure," he said, once she was done.

"And where does Beth fit into your plans?" she asked.

He narrowed his eyes.  Now she was just mocking him.  "She doesn't," he said flatly.  "That's what adoption means."

"But you want her to," Shelby pressed.

He stared.  Moment of truth time.  "Yeah."

"Good; you're hired."

"What?"

"You want Beth in your life; I need a part-time nanny.  You can start tomorrow."  Somehow, while his brain was still trying to slot was she was saying into some kind of logical sense, she was walking him towards the door.  "Be here by nine.  Oh, and Noah?"

He was outside by then, and turned around at her question.  She smiled.  "I recommend using the driveway next time."

****************

WEEK 1

There was zero food in the house he was willing to eat.  Shelby ate all this healthy crap that actually required preparation, and Beth was still on an all formula, all the time diet.

Eyeing what could only be a lettuce crisper with suspicion, Puck skimmed his contact list.  He ranked them, based on their likelihood of hanging up on him, access to a car that actually worked, and whether or not they would pass on the gossip before or after they brought him breakfast.

Twenty minutes later, Kurt Hummel pulled in the driveway.

It was less awkward than it could have been.  Mostly because Kurt had brought donuts, and it was hard to feel awkward in the face of that kind of sugar high.  

Kurt let him eat, not even raising an eyebrow until the third donut.  Finally, he said, "Why am I here?"

Puck shrugged.  It seemed simple enough to him.  "Because I figured most of the people I could call would wind up punching me in the face."

"And… you thought I'd be the least likely to resort to physical violence?"  Kurt's expression said he wasn't sure if he though that was a good thing or not.

"No, man -- just figured you're not strong enough to do permanent damage."

Kurt hung around after the donuts were gone, but he was surprisingly unhelpful when it came to actually taking care of an infant.

"What did you expect?" he asked, eyeing Beth warily.  "Bachelor household.  I can cook, clean, and fix cars, but we don't take care of babies."

He supposed it made sense -- he'd never really thought about Kurt's family.  "I used to watch my sister all the time when she was a baby."

"What's her name?"

"Who?"

"Your sister.  I've heard you talk about her, but you never mention her name."

"I can't.  She's forbidden it.  It's part of her plan to completely disassociate herself from me in the McKinley social strata."

Kurt was giving him a speculative look.  Probably because he'd used the word "strata" in a non-food-related sentence.  Puck rolled his eyes.  "Yes, SATs are important.  I'm not an idiot, Hummel."

*********************

MONTH 1

"Noah freaking Puckerman!  This is your laundry!  I cannot believe you conned me into doing your laundry!"

"Hey, I wore all those clothes when I was with Beth.  Besides, you're the one who said you cleaned."

Kurt glared at him.  "So this isn't about you not telling your mother about your new 'summer job'?"

Puck winced.  Okay, so his mom didn't know he was working as a nanny for his biological child.  Hummel didn't have to sound so... accusatory about it.

"Have you told anyone?"

"Oh yeah, I've taken out an ad in the paper -- 'local loser who knocked up teen cheerleading captain earns gainful employment as childcare worker.'  No, I haven't told anyone.  This thing is weird enough as it is."

The glare increased in intensity.  

"Why, have you told someone?" Puck asked.  Because the most likely person would be Mercedes, and she had pipes like you wouldn't believe, but once she knew something, everyone would know.  Except possibly Rachel and Finn.  Somehow, they still managed to exist outside the otherwise all-encompassing Glee gossip circle.

"No.  And don't make this about me.  I'm just a guy hanging out with another guy.  Unless you want to start dating, there's nothing for me to tell."  

While Puck's mind was still reeling -- and he wasn't sure whether it was more the thought of dating Kurt or the thought of Kurt "hanging out with the guys" -- Kurt plowed on relentlessly.  "This is real for you now.  Like it or not, people are going to find out.  Have you thought this through at all?  What are you going to do when school starts?  What about after you graduate?"

Seriously?  Where did Hummel get off thinking he got to give the responsibility lecture?

"Seriously?" he said.  "What's your problem?  You're planning on ditching this town the first chance you get, just like everyone else.  I just wanted to see my daughter.  She's this -- tiny person that I helped make, and they wouldn't even let me hold her at the hospital.  This is a good thing I have going here.  I'm not going to screw it up, and I'm not going to spread it around, and if you know what's good for you, neither will you."

He'd been moving closer and closer to Kurt throughout his speech, until he was looming over him.  The effect was lessened by having a baby in his arms, but he thought the overall message was still loud and clear.

"So it's just one day at a time, then?"  Kurt crossed his arms and managed to look disdainful even as Beth let out a fretful noise.  "Typical."

"Look, what part of that made you think I'm not trying?  What do you want from me here?"

There were a few precious seconds of silence as Beth drew in breath to really start wailing.  Kurt just stared at him.  His expression was unreadable.  "Try harder," he said finally, plucking the baby out of Puck's arms and spinning on his heel.  

Puck's brain reeled.  Kurt Hummel had just stolen his baby!  That was like, a crime, right?

"Hey!" he said, but Kurt wasn't listening, and it wasn't like Puck hadn't been up all night while Beth screamed for -- whatever it was babies screamed for at 3:00 in the morning.  The likelihood that Kurt would do something truly worrying to Beth seemed pretty small.  The likelihood that Kurt would continue to berate him if he followed? High.  

Puck figured retreat was the better part of valor, or whatever, and headed to the guest room for a nap.

******************

TAKE 2

Puck was pretty sure that no conversation in the history of ever had been as awkward as the one he'd had with Kurt's dad, asking him to be an 'in case of emergency' contact for Shelby's three day trip to the invitational.  She was okay with him staying with Beth, but only if he had someone to help, and a "responsible adult" on call.  Still, it had gotten him three days of alone time with his daughter, and it wasn't like Kurt was the worst company in the world.

He did bring donuts, after all.

"Before you ask," Puck said around a mouthful of donut, "yeah, I told my mom.  She's going to Parents Day at my sister's camp, though."

Kurt eyed him (judgingly, Puck thought), and Puck tried not to look at his truly weird hat.  He couldn't even really call it a hat.  It was more like a strange, hat-like accessory.

"It's fine," Kurt said.  "I shouldn't have -- I was glad when you asked me."

"I think she thought I might ask Quinn and the Fabrays.  You know, once you've rehabilitated one teenage parent..."

There was a long pause.  Puck took the time to consider adding racing stripes to Beth's stroller.  It was a little dull.  "Has she met the Fabrays?" Kurt asked finally.  "Does she know Quinn is still staying with Mercedes?"

Puck shrugged.  "She does now.  Besides, you know you love spending time with Beth.  She's the only one who appreciates that hat."

Kurt threw a crumpled up napkin at him.  "You have no appreciation for fashion.  Are we walking, or not?"

There were only just so many things you could do with a baby and limited resources.  Especially when all of the places you might normally go were bound to be occupied by people you didn't want to see.  Walking around the neighborhood was easy and cheap, and didn't involve car seats, which were clearly designed by lunatics.  Nothing that didn't involve rockets or missiles should be that hard to figure out.

They walked in silence, until Kurt adjusted his hat-like thing for the billionth time and sighed.  Loudly.  Puck could keep ignoring him, but it wouldn't be long before he escalated to verbal nagging.  Much better to head it off at the pass.

"I thought about what you said."  Puck addressed his words to the stroller.  If they were talking about this, he could at least avoid the humiliation of eye contact.  "I'm not... a planner, or anything.  But my dad ditched out on us, and I would've given anything for him to have been there."

"Yeah," Kurt said quietly.

"Shelby's going to let me co-parent.  I'm dropping football -- she won't let me drop glee."  

Kurt huffed like that shouldn't have even been a question, and Puck smirked.  Good to know some things were still the same.

"So, it's school and glee by day, and parenting as your afterschool job?"

"Why not?"

"Well..."

"No one’s life is normal, Hummel.  So we're a non-traditional family -- so what?"

Kurt was looking at him like he used to look at Finn sometimes, all dewy-eyed and mushy.  Puck rolled his eyes.  "Cut that out.  We're not throwing a freaking parade or anything.  I just figure having more people in her life looking out for her is better than less, right?"

Kurt rolled his eyes right back.  "Yes, of course," he said.  "Your basic human decency in no way overwhelms your irritating manliness."

"Damn right it doesn't."  Kurt skipped out of reach before he could administer a manly punch to the arm, but he did manage to snatch the hat and drop it into Beth's lap in the stroller.  

"Hey!"

"Not going to steal from a baby, are you Hummel?"

Kurt put his hands on his hips like he was about to rip Puck a new one, but he laughed instead, and the hat stayed where it was.

Puck was pretty sure he'd won that one.


End file.
